From chemotherapy to cake orders: How a Dubai baker launched her dream business

Dubai: At 31, Maryam Al Sadiq was preparing to launch Unknown Treats, a mini Bundt cake business she had spent years working towards. But when the bakery officially began accepting orders through food delivery apps in July 2026, she was not in her new kitchen overseeing operations. She was managing the launch from hospital while undergoing treatment for bladder cancer that had spread to her brain.

Despite spending six weeks in hospital, undergoing radiation therapy for two brain tumours alongside chemotherapy, Maryam was determined not to put her dream on hold. “However, this time, I had a purpose, a fire still in me. I wanted to launch my business more eager than I ever did.”

With the support of two team members, she prepared to open the bakery from a kitchen her parents had built in the garden of their family home. She trained her staff to handle orders in her absence and coordinated the launch remotely, working from her laptop between treatments.

Maryam built her hospital days around both her treatment and her business, establishing a routine that gave her something to work towards each morning. “I woke up every day at the hospital, built a routine for myself, managed my kitchen from the hospital and by mid July, I launched it.”

A passion born in the kitchen

Born and raised in the UAE, Maryam lives with her parents and has three siblings. Before pursuing baking professionally, she worked in marketing at a multinational company.

Maryam's health challenges began at an early age. Diagnosed with Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease, at 12, she spent much of her childhood undergoing treatment, which often disrupted her education. Despite these challenges, she graduated with high grades, earning a degree in advertising with a minor in marketing.

Baking entered her life almost by chance. In 2017, her best friends gifted her a pink KitchenAid mixer, which she still proudly displays on her kitchen counter. “I started off with simple desserts, mostly cookies and cakes, and then eventually I started making them for friends and family for birthdays and special occasions. It became therapy for me.”

Before cancer, Maryam described herself as someone who thrived on routine, planning her days carefully and exercising nearly six times a week.

In 2021, that sense of control was shattered.

A diagnosis that changed everything

Cancer was no stranger to Maryam's family. She had lost relatives to the disease but never imagined she would be diagnosed herself. “But it turned out to be me.”

In January 2021, she was diagnosed with urachal adenocarcinoma, a rare cancer involving the bladder. Her symptoms had initially been mistaken for complications of Crohn's disease until investigations revealed an unusual growth.

Maryam attended the appointment to receive her results alone, having kept the investigations from her family. “As soon as I saw the doctor's face, I knew it was cancer.”

The doctor began explaining the findings, drawing a bladder on paper and repeatedly referring to a tumour. “I just sat there, taking in everything he was saying and asked him, you keep on saying tumour, do you mean cancer? Then he finally said yes.”

Telling her family was even harder. Her mother was distraught, her sister stunned, and hearing her father's voice crack nearly brought Maryam to tears. “When I told my dad and heard the crack in his voice, that was when I felt I wouldn't be able to hold myself together.”

Maryam underwent surgery to remove part of her bladder and her belly button, followed by four cycles of chemotherapy. She continued working and socialising through much of her treatment, with only her managers aware of her diagnosis.

When she eventually returned to the office after taking time off, she worried about how colleagues would react to her short hair. “The first day back to work was like the first day of school as a child. I was anxious of the judgement I would get.” Instead, colleagues treated her normally or complimented her new look, easing her anxiety. 

How Unknown Treats got its name

By 2023, Maryam was working, exercising and socialising again, while attending regular follow-up scans.

But restructuring at her company prompted her to reconsider her corporate career. She had also begun watching TikTok videos of independent bakers, particularly Brooki Bakehouse and an account called Ciento Cookies in the Philippines, wondering whether she could build something similar.

Her former manager, whom she considered a mentor, offered some advice.“Do not leave until you know exactly what you want to do next.” Maryam decided to give baking a chance. If it failed, she reasoned, she could return to corporate life.

In October 2023, she resigned from her job and decided to register a trade name for her new business.

However, choosing a name proved unexpectedly difficult. Maryam wanted something distinctive, rather than a cliché name associated with desserts, cakes, cookies or sugar.

On her way to register the business, she jokingly told her best friend that she might call it ‘Dunno Treats’, simply because she could not decide on a name. Her friend suggested ‘Unknown Treats’ instead. “I said, yes, I'll just go ahead with that, and she was actually kidding,” Maryam recalled.

In December 2023, Unknown Treats Sweets was officially registered. “Little did I know how much of the unknown I was about to walk into.”

When cancer returned

In early 2024, severe pain and swelling in Maryam's left leg led to another devastating discovery. Her cancer had returned at stage four, affecting areas around her kidney, spine and major blood vessels.

That April, she underwent a complex 17-hour operation. Surgeons removed her left kidney, reconstructed a blood vessel and removed part of a nerve affecting her left leg.

She woke up with her leg almost paralysed and numb. Months of physiotherapy followed, alongside 30 radiation sessions. Then severe rib pain prompted another scan, revealing that the cancer had spread to her lungs and spine. Maryam asked whether a cure was possible.

“We are not looking to cure at this point, just maintain for as long as we can,” she recalled being told. “In my head, I was planning my funeral, for real, but no one knew.”

A second oncologist offered a different perspective, discussing treatment aimed at a cure and restoring some of her hope.

Between July and December 2024, Maryam underwent intensive chemotherapy. Each cycle involved two days of treatment, followed by side effects lasting about a week. On better days, she met friends, went swimming and enjoyed outings.

In January 2025, a PET scan showed no detectable cancer. After months focused on treatment, Maryam felt lost. Her business remained unfinished, and she had barely opened her laptop since the previous year.

She reminded herself that she could either dwell on what had happened or move forward. “Get yourself up and moving forward, you are one of the lucky ones.”

Finding her way back to baking

An opportunity arrived when her cousin suggested participating in a pop-up event in March 2025.

Maryam had just six weeks to prepare, with no finished product range, packaging or clear business concept. Rather than sell cookies as originally planned, she developed an interactive mini Bundt cake bar, where customers could choose their cake flavour, sauce and toppings.

“I did not want to have a basic booth and just sell cakes, I wanted it to be interactive,” she recalled. “My only challenge was time, I was super tight on time.”

With her cousin's help, she arranged a custom dessert cart, improvised packaging and organised a photoshoot. She finalised the flavours and toppings just two days before the event.

Despite the rush, Maryam sold out on all three days, returning home exhausted each evening to bake fresh batches for the following day. After more than a year of interrupted plans, customers were finally enjoying her creations. The response gave her confidence that Unknown Treats could work.

Just one week later, she developed abdominal discomfort. A scan revealed another recurrence, affecting her ovaries, liver and abdominal lining. Around four litres of fluid had accumulated in her abdomen, and she spent approximately 10 days in hospital.

In July 2025, Maryam underwent emergency surgery to remove her ovaries, alongside another procedure involving heated chemotherapy delivered into the abdomen.

Throughout her recovery, she continued developing Unknown Treats whenever she felt well enough. Her family was building a dedicated bakery kitchen in their garden, and she remained involved in its design and packaging.

Another pop-up, another reason to keep going

In January 2026, Maryam registered for her second pop-up, hoping to build on her earlier success. Shortly afterwards, another scan revealed further cancer spread, affecting her spine, liver and lungs.

She decided to proceed with the event as long as she felt able.

By February, she was preparing a larger dessert cart, developing new flavours and baking with her family's help. The pop-up was another success, although regional conflict forced it to end earlier than planned. Rather than waste the excess stock, Maryam offered the remaining cakes online. Everything sold out.

“This gave me more hope, eagerness and excitement to continue. And so I did.”

With her family's support and a small team, she continued preparing the bakery for regular orders.

By July, Unknown Treats was officially available on Deliveroo and Careem. The garden kitchen was complete, and her team had established a system that allowed operations to continue without her physical presence.

“All while at the hospital, I didn't even see the kitchen completely done with my own eyes. But I trusted the team at home and we managed to build a smooth system that would help run the business even if I wasn't there physically.”

When Maryam was discharged, she finally saw the completed kitchen she had spent so long planning.

More than a business, part of her treatment

After years of relapses, surgeries and chemotherapy, Unknown Treats has given Maryam something meaningful to work towards, even when her health remains uncertain.

“I don't see what I have been through as something negative, it is all part of a learning. Learning how to live alongside the challenges of life.”

Baking, she believes, has helped her cope with the emotional and physical demands of treatment. “It is not just a business to me, it is also a part of my medicine.”

Even her doctors are sometimes surprised by how active she remains. “They expect me to be weak and in a wheelchair, but I think they realised that me continuing to work has given me a sense of purpose and I think that's a part of my treatment now.”

Above all, she wanted “to give myself a purpose and not just be a patient”.

Finding gratitude in the everyday

Maryam is quick to acknowledge that building Unknown Treats would not have been possible without her family and friends, who supported her through treatment and helped keep the bakery running. “My family's and friends' support helped make everything possible. I did not do everything myself, it takes a village.”

Although she initially struggled to accept help, she gradually learnt that she did not have to manage everything alone.

“I appreciate the smaller things in life more than ever now. I always did growing up because of Crohn's, but it is nothing like having cancer. You learn to appreciate every ‘good day’ you have.”

Years spent in hospital waiting rooms alongside other cancer patients have reinforced that perspective. While grateful for the days she feels well, she admits that witnessing others struggle sometimes brings feelings of guilt.

Today, Maryam continues to undergo treatment while managing her bakery. “But here I am today. I just had my chemo session a few days ago but I'm able to get up. I'm able to be here. I'm able to talk.”

Despite years of upheaval and the uncertainty surrounding her health, Maryam has held on to her zest for life and an unmistakable sense of hope. That love of life is reflected in every mini Bundt cake she takes out of the oven, every swirl of frosting she carefully pipes and every dessert she packs into the vibrant, colourful boxes that seem to mirror her personality.

She hopes that sharing her journey will offer reassurance to others facing cancer, whether themselves or through someone they love.

“Sharing my story may give others hope. If they or a loved one has cancer, the word doesn't mean ‘the end’.”